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( Pinyin)
Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu means the Chinese language[1], and pinyin means "spell sound", or the spelling of the sound.[1] Developed by a government committee in the People's Republic of China, the system was initially approved by the Chinese government on February 11, 1958 [2]. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1979, and since then it has been adopted by many organizations worldwide. It will also be the official romanization system in the Republic of China (Taiwan) starting in 2009 [3][4]. It is used to teach Chinese schoolchildren and foreign learners the standard pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese, to spell Chinese names in foreign publications and to enter Chinese characters on computers. In 1954, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (PRC) created a Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language. This committee developed Hanyu pinyin based upon existing systems of that time (Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928, Latinxua Sin Wenz of 1931, and the diacritic markings from zhuyin)[5]. The main force behind pinyin was Zhou Youguang.[6] Zhou was working in a New York bank when he decided to return to China to help rebuild the country after the war. He became an economics professor in Shanghai. The government assigned him to help the development of a new romanization system. The switch to language and writing largely saved him from the wrath of the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong. A first draft was published on February 12, 1956. The first edition of Hanyu pinyin was approved and adopted at the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress on February 11, 1958. It was then introduced to primary schools as a way to teach Standard Mandarin pronunciation and used to improve the literacy rate among adults. In 2001, the Chinese Government issued the National Common Language Law, providing a legal basis for applying pinyin.[7] Pinyin superseded older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles (1859; modified 1892) and Chinese Postal Map Romanization, and replaced zhuyin as the method of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland China. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for modern Chinese in 1982 (ISO 70981982, superseded by ISO 70981991). The United Nations adopted it as an official and standardized Mandarin romanization system in 1986.[8] It has also been accepted by the government of Singapore, the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and many other international institutions[9].
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